Witness The Birth Of A Classic Series!
Conquest of Elysium II Now Available As A Free Download!

Hampstead, NC, 30 May 2007

It's 1997. You're in Sweden, where the women may be hot but the winters are cold, and
you have some free time on your hands. Do you:

(a) Participate in historical reenactments of the Thirty Years War?
(b) Drink beer until your blackouts last weeks at a time?
(c) Form a new black metal band based on the teachings of Swedish philosopher
Emanuel Swedenborg calling it "Swedenborgasmic Satanas"?
(d) Create a highly addictive turn-based computer fantasy strategy game that signals the
beginning of the greatest fantasy game on a computer?

Well, if you're Illwinter Game Design your choice would have to be (d), although in all
honesty they may have chosen (a) through (c) at some point too, maybe all at once. From
what we hear drunk Swedish black metallers in period costume were all the rage in 1997.

In 1997 Illwinter Game Design, best known for their award-winning series, Dominions,
released on an unsuspecting world Conquest of Elysium II. The direct descendent of
Dominions 3: The Awakening, Conquest of Elysium II is where the addiction originated.
Unfortunately, for fans wanting to see how their favorite fantasy series began, acquiring a
copy has been difficult, at least until now.

Illwinter Game Design and Shrapnel Games have just made Conquest of Elysium II
available to the world as a FREE download. This is the full game, no strings attached.
Download and play it forever!

Available for all the major operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux-sorry,
Sinclair ZX81 users!), Conquest of Elysium II allows gamers to step back in time and
discover a true strategy gem that emphasizes gameplay over glitz, and rewards players
with a rich tapestry of carefully woven fun. Dominions players will instantly recognize
the themes and options explored in the game, although at a smaller scale than they are
used to.

Just as Dominions is about choices, so is Conquest of Elysium II. A game of warfare,
players can choose from twenty different character classes to represent their faction in the
gameworld. Each class differs in traits and powers, with some influencing the battlefield
and others controlling vast wells of magic. There are five different societies to play in,
akin to the different ages in Dominions, and the world map is generated anew for each
game. Besides battling other opponents, neutral creatures are scattered throughout the
world. There are over three hundred types of critters, and over one hundred special
abilities possessed by them.

Conquest of Elysium II supports up to eight players, although unfortunately it does not
support multplayer outside of hotseat play. It is also not moddable, although with the
random world generation, the score of characters, various societies, and the Monster
Manual worth of denizens, Conquest of Elysium II is a game that can be discovered fresh
for years.

For more information on Conquest of Elysium II, or the latest Illwinter Game Design title,
the almighty Dominions 3: The Awakening, please visit us at www.shrapnelgames.com,
which is home to a discriminating collection of the best independent strategy gaming on
your computer. Besides plenty of demos to download, we also feature two other
absolutely FREE games, winSPWW2 and winSPMBT.